Guiding Principles: Rule 2, Joints Act, Muscles React

There's an old saying:

"Methods are Many, Priciples are Few"

It's something Paul Cox would say to a lot of students back when I first met him in the early 2000's

Paul was using it as a tool to bypass other instructors poor instruction and helping students get the most out their practice.

One principle I lean heavily into was given to me my the creator of Anatomy in Motion, Mr Gary Ward.

It's the second of his "Big 5 Rules" I may talk about all five if there's interest.

Anyhow, Rule 2: "Joints act, muscles react" - Gary Ward.

They are 4 words that have really made me look deeply into the exercise prescriptions I give out.

The simplicity of this statement, the elegance of it, belies the depth of it.

Joints act Muscles react

This statement does a couple of things.

First, it separates us from the way we usually consider muscle actions, that is when we're in the gym.

In the gym we largely work with conscious, concentric muscle contractions.

But, did you consider muscle action this morning running for the bus?

Did you consider muscle action while standing on one leg putting you pants on?

Did you consider muscle action when jumping to catch that high ball at practice?

Or when throwing a punch into the heavy bag?

Let's go back to the recent Olympics and consider the Pole Vault.

What does that pole do in order to fling the jumper 6.25 meters into the air?

It flexes It loads up like a big spring and then "contracts" to launch the jumper skywards

Our bodies do similar.

As we move, the first movement is very often a shift in center of gravity.

Then the bones start to move, this puts a stretch into the tendons, which then stretches the muscle, which then sets of a reflexive recoil in the muscle and the muscle begins to contract to arrest that stretch.

Think about skipping, or about plyometrics, this is precisely what goes on, most obviously in the foot and ankle complex, but also the knee, even the hip with every landing.

The joints all flex on impact, the foot and calf muscles contract against that flex, the quads contract against the knee flexion, the (upper) hamstrings and glutes contract against the hip flexion, the fast they can react, the quicker they respond and the more force they can bring, the faster and more powerfully we rebound upwards.

What's our take away from this right now, today?

If you want to be genuinely efficient in your movement.

Be that for endurance purposes

Be that for maximal power generation

I will urge you to be relaxed as much as is appropriate.

Let the body do it's thing, it is way smarter than you or I

Stop trying to hold your core tight

Don't try keeping your glutes "active" while walking or worse, sprinting

And watch as the body begins to find it's real potential.

The second thing..... Yeah, I nearly forgot I said there was a couple of things.

I mentioned plyo's.

But if you've followed my work for any length of time, you'll know I love ballistic or swinging exercises.

I use Kettlebells, Maces, Clubs, Skipping, Jumping, all of which are movement focused with a momentum base.

When I take a BJJ player for example and introduce these tool to them especially if they've come from a more typical training background, they immediately start feeling better and noticing their BJJ performance improves.

Ballistic / momentum based training is eccentric in nature and leaves out that muscle control element (which has it's place, don't get me wrong) and let's the body figure out what it needs to do.

The momentum moves the joints, the muscles react.

Their ability to react improves

Joint integrity improves

Movement becomes more accessible, faster, more efficient, more powerful.

Is that why we get outsized performance results from these relatively light tools?

I really couldn't say.

But it fits with Rule 2 So I'll take that as a core principle until I find a better one.

As always this newsletter is for you, so please feel free to send in your questions for discussion in future editions.

And don't forget to subscribe to the YouTube channel where I discuss these same topics on video:

And I'll be back next week, see you then. Regards Dave Hedges www.davehedges.net www.WG-Fit.com

How to Avoid being 1 Dimensional in your Training

Since getting back to using the YouTube, I'm bringing you today's topic from the comments on a video I posted in April 2022

The video is a quick demo of a very simple drill to help feel the “spinal engine” or to put it simply, how the spine articulates to generate force and movement.

Here's the video:

The comment I'm referring to is:

“An interesting note is that your video made me realize how many of my exercise routines are planar instead of rotational (for lack of better words). For example this is a good reason bicycle crunches might be better than normal crunches because they would better support power transfer through walking, running, swimming or other sports motions that require torque to generate power.” - @prasanthnair611

While I know nothing about the commenter, what he says in this comment is pretty damn good.

Most gym guys do train in a very single plane dominant fashion.

By this I am referring to the basic classification of the bodies planes of motion.

We have three:

Sagittal - front to back motion best viewed from the Side

Frontal - side to side motion best viewed from the Front or rear

Transverse - rotational motion best viewed from above, hence why it is often referred to as Coronal as in Crown of head.

Those looking to use these terms in your professional life, note the capital letters. This is the best way I know to remember which is which.

Sagittal - Side view

Frontal - Front view

Transverse - Top view

This not only helps you remember them, but also where to place yourself to best observe them.

Now, for everyone else, it's important to note these are simply terms we use to help simplify and observe movement.

The reality is all movement includes all three planes at all times.

Some planes more than others, but all three non the less.

If we train mostly with bilateral, that means both sides, so most barbell lifts, or double kettlebell lifts, then we are prioritising the Sagittal plane.

Squats, Deadlifts, 2 hand Swings, push ups, presses etc are all front to back actions.

If we do these exclusively, we can potentially decrease our own movement quality.

Keyword: potentially

Anyone who's trained with me or using the WG-FIT methods will know I don't like training exclusively in one plane.

So why do most train in a Sagittal dominant fashion?

2 reasons

1: Simplicity, barbells and machines are mostly used in both hands, so much so when folks go to dumbbells and kettlebells they use similar movements.

It is also perceived as safer by many

2: Overload. In short, if we want to overload the system for strength gains, there is simply no better or safer way then the big bilateral lifts.

And a third reason is maybe the myth that the spine is fragile and we must brace our core to stabilise it.

Now, get yourself on your feet, brace that core and stabilise the spine, now walk. Or run. Or do anything athletic.

Tricky eh?

Basically, the spine with those 33 individual vertebrae, each able to articulate with the one above and below it, that structure is meant to move.

If it wasn't, it wouldn't.

There is a section of the spine, the sacrum, that is fused into a solid wedge so it can form the back of your pelvis.

Our skull bones are “knitted” together, when born they move, there's space between them to allow motion and the head to deform slightly to ease passage during birthing.

But as we age, those bones come together and “knit” to keep things tight.

There is always a little motion available (go to a BJJ class to find out how much……)

But the point is, movement that the body wants to reduce, it WILL reduce, or eliminate.

And yet, we have all this beautiful movement potential in our spines.

Without it, we would struggle with sprints, with throws, with basic human movement.

So, why do so many people hurt their spines in daily living?

Could it be a Sagittalistic training plan?

I can't say for certain but I believe it contributes.

It is why the WG-FIT 100 rep warm ups are the way they are.

They promote joint actions, including the joints of the spine, to move in all three planes.

And in doing so they load up muscle tissues in an incredibly healthy and holistic manner.

It's why I am a fan of single kettlebell work, unilateral lifts with one or more kettlebells and cross body type patterns such as the bicycle crunch mentioned by our commenter.

Movements that teach the spine to move, movements that load through spine in diagonal or spiraling type patterns have always featured in our programs.

Yes, we deadlift with barbells and do other big bilateral lifts

But the warm ups are multi planar.

The lighter work, assistance lifts and energy system work is very often multi planar.

And as such, back pain, while still an inevitability from time to time, is often much reduced in my client population, even with the general training plans, never mind the personal training plans.

Now, athletes can train with a limited vocabulary of big, bilateral lifts. Because the rest of their time is spent doing athletic movement.

We need to get the most out of the least in the weight room with these guys, so multiplanar warm up, big lifts , minimal assistance work and done.

But for the non athletes, we have to encourage movement in the weight room.

So crossbody drills, such as crawling and bicycle type crunches are commonplace.

As are single limb lifts.

Don't be afraid to move the spine.

Just build it up slowly and safely.

And you’ll be a more resilient human animal as a result

Chat soon.

Dave

Regards

Dave Hedges

www.Wg-Fit.com

www.DaveHedges.net

The No 1 Recovery Protocol

Today's newsletter is less answering a question, more examining something a client, Brian, said during one of our Zoom chats.

Brian, like many of you, is juggling work, travel, home life, personal challenges, and trying to keep his body feeling good and able to perform.

While Brian would never class himself as an Athlete, he's run many a marathon and competed in Kettlebell sport, two things he's looking to get back to if we can get his ducks in a row.

On our last call, he said something cool, though.

He talked about “sleep opportunity”

Not just sleep, but the opportunity for sleep.

What does he mean?

We all have opportunities for sleep.

But does the sleep we actually get match that opportunity?

Do we eat into the opportunity by sitting up later than we know we should?

Do we eat into that opportunity by having caffeine late in the day?

Do we eat into that opportunity by overdosing blue light in the evenings?

If we know we have to get up at a certain hour, we ought to then count back 8 hours, and that is our target to get to sleep by.

As I write this, my alarm went off this morning at 0700. My dog had me up before the alarm, around 0630, but we'll use 7 as our planned wake-up time.

So I should have been falling asleep at 2300 to give me 9 hours.

Did I?

Now that's a question….

Caffeine clears away adenosine and boosts cortisol, making sleep harder to come by.

Blue light can reduce melatonin production, which can make sleep harder to come by.

The mental stimulation from the phone (blue light device) can over stimulate us, making sleep hard to come by.

Exercise late in the evening can leave us adrenalised and struggling to sleep

Bedroom too hot, too bright, and so on and so forth.

So we see that while we may have given ourselves a great sleep opportunity, we may get a full 8 hours tucked up in our pit, but we may rob ourselves of actual quality sleep through a few simple habits.

And we know changing habits is simple but definitely not easy.

The thing is, sleep is the number one recovery tool.

It outperforms ice baths, saunas, meditation, massage, and anything else you consider to be recovery combined.

You want to optimise recovery, start with sleep and food.

Then layer in the “stuff” that gets rammed down our necks as being good for “optimising recovery”

All that said, there's also real life to consider.

Few of us make a living from training.

Many on this list have kids.

Creating an optimal routine to ensure optimal sleep is a tall order for many.

But thankfully, we are robust animals and can operate very well without optimal just so long as we get good enough.

And that may mean a lie in a couple of mornings. It may mean a 10-30 minute nap in the day. It may mean leaning into secondary recovery strategies (calories and counting sheep being primary, ice baths etc are secondary)

Sleep is not a waste of time, nor is it a luxury

So take a minute to consider your sleep opportunity.

Then, another minute to consider how well you're using that opportunity to your benefit.

But don't let not getting optimal sleep become a source of stress. Relax and look to make it up in other ways, or at another time.

(And before the hate mail comes in, I am aware we can not “Make up” for lost sleep. But I do believe thinking we can do some degree is liberating and reduces how much people get stressed about having sub optimal sleep)

Do you have a question or comment?

Don't be shy, hit reply and send them in.

I read all emails and reply to them, especially replies to this newsletter.

And you never know, your comment may trigger a future email.

Chat soon

Regards

Dave Hedges

www.davehedges.net